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“We’ve only been back for a day and a half, Ari.” Merrick’s voice was gentle. “Cut yourself a little slack. We’ll figure out a way to stop this, to protect the students who compete in the challenge. But it won’t all happen overnight.”
His words were kind and strong, and they did actually help soothe the tension in my chest a bit.
I bit the inside of my lip and reached out to thread my fingers through his. “I want you to help me.”
Merrick chuckled. “That’s a pretty broad area, there. What exactly do you need help with? I mean, we all know you’re a little bit crazy, but I’m no psychiatrist.”
I rolled my eyes and kicked his chair lightly. “No, not that. I need you to kick my ass.”
He cocked an eyebrow, a wicked gleam lighting in his eyes. “To be honest, there are other things I’d much rather do to your ass.”
A little wave of heat moved through me, but I shook my head. “I know I spent most of the summer training, but now that we’re back, I feel like I need more. And the thing is, I can’t get any of this training in class. Especially now that I’ve got what you guys think are godly powers—I can’t go throwing that shit around in front of professors. I’ll be spending every class trying to tamp down my magic, and that’s no use if I want to actually be improving.”
He closed his book, turning to face me more fully. “So what can I do?”
“You’re amazing at controlling your magic.” My fingers tightened around his. There had been a time when the two of us were so competitive that I would’ve hated to admit he was better than me at something. But now, that hardly seemed to matter. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re the best student at this school when it comes to control.”
One corner of his lips quirked up. “Did you just call me uptight? I’m pretty sure you just called me uptight.”
“Hey, if the shoe fits.” I chuckled. “But I meant it as a compliment, if that helps.”
“It does.”
“Anyway, I guess I want you to kick my metaphorical ass more than anything. If I have more power than I ever expected at my fingertips, I need to learn how to control it better. If I can’t do that, it’s useless to me.” My stomach twisted as I recalled my talk with Eden and my worries about trying to recruit other students in our campaign against the gods. “We might be on our own in this, so we need every advantage we can get.”
Merrick stuck his book in his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder, pushing back from the table. “Well, there’s no better time than the present. Come on, there’s a training room on the other side of the school that I don’t think ever gets used anymore. We can go over there.”
For the first time in a long time, I actually felt a little bubble of hope and excitement rise up in me as we made our way through the corridors. I trained every day on my own over the summer, but it’d been a long time since I’d trained with anyone else.
Merrick was no-nonsense and intense, and no matter how much affection he had for me, I knew he would push me. And that was exactly what I needed.
In the training room, I took off my shirt, leaving myself in just a sports bra and a pair of stretchy pants. Merrick kicked off his shoes, then walked out onto the mat barefoot and stood in front of me with his hands crossed. “You ready?”
I nodded. “I’m ready.”
As we began to train, I had to remind myself several times that I had asked him to kick my ass.
He was like a drill sergeant, making me repeat spells over and over until I’d found a way to do them with maximum efficiency and minimal effort. As a trained fighter, I was used to thinking offensively all the time, taking every opening I saw and letting my emotions feed my fight instincts.
Merrick was the total opposite. Tactical, controlled, and strategic.
It felt like looking at the world upside down, but by the time we were done, I’d actually gotten closer to matching his style, and althou
gh I was exhausted and tense from concentrating so hard, a little flicker of pride lit in my stomach.
I still didn’t quite know where these new powers had come from, but I was getting closer to mastering them.
Pushing my hair away from my face, I walked over to the bench along one wall and sat down, leaning against the wall and letting my eyes drift closed. Of course, now that I was no longer moving, my brain started running at a million miles again, thinking about what was to come.
The bench shifted slightly as Merrick sat down next to me and nudged me with his shoulder. “What’s on your mind?”
I turned toward him, biting my bottom lip. “It just feels like maybe I’ve gone insane. I’ve decided to take on the gods, the most powerful magical beings in the world. I keep waiting for one of you to try to have me admitted to the psych ward or something.”
Merrick stared at me for a second. Then he took my hand in his, pressing a kiss to each of my knuckles. When he looked up again, his gaze was serious.
“Listen to me, Ari. If we thought you didn’t have a chance, we would’ve tied you to the fucking bed to stop you from marching into this fight. But we haven’t. Because we believe in you. You are the strongest person I’ve ever met. And you haven’t grown into that; you’ve been strong from the moment I met you. It’s what drew me to you in the first place. You may be nervous, but that’s a good thing. It will make you cautious. But I promise you, you can do this. And you’re not alone.”
His words were so earnest, so heartfelt, that they slipped between my ribs, past every defense I had, and landed straight in my heart. I blinked as sudden tears stung the backs of my eyes, my breath catching in my throat.
